Brexit import charges may mean rise in food prices, say trade groups | The Guardian |

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the fees of up to £145, which come into force on 30 April, will pay for border inspections and improve biosecurity by preventing the import of plant and animal diseases into the UK. The charges apply to imports entering the UK and transits entering and leaving.

Have a peaceful cultural summer

thetimes.co.uk | Revealed: UK targets four countries for Rwanda deal, 15 Apr pay to play refoulement

Leaked documents show the Foreign Office has shortlisted more countries to which to deport migrants, as the < wipes tears > Safety of Rwanda Bill is set to receive royal assent

Britain has entered talks to replicate the Rwanda migrant deportation scheme with Armenia, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, and Botswana, according to leaked documents that reveal the government's extensive search for another third-country deal.

Several South American countries including Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Brazil, and Colombia have also been approached but were viewed as less likely to be interested in what the government describes as a "third-country asylum processing deal".

A list of African countries including Cape Verde, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Angola, and Sierra Leone were put on a reserve list that would be approached if other targets failed.

Other African countries including Morocco, Tunisia, Namibia, and The Gambia "explicitly declined" to enter technical discussions.

< wipes tears >
"classic Russian technique"
UK could deport asylum seekers to ex-Soviet republic
ironically, not Ukraine

aftershock.news folks were laughing at this story, published in scmp.com a month ago: "Where was gunpowder invented? In China! So who is to blame for the shortage of gunpowder? China!"

ChatGPT | China is a threat to Europe's gunpowder supply, defense boss warns, 18 Apr

In an interview with POLITICO, Saab CEO Micael Johansson called on governments to cut environmental rules to make it easier for companies to diversify their supply chains for critical < wipes tears > military components.

dual-use: sulfur, potassium nitrate (fertilizer), CO₂ (charcoal), possibly nitrocellulose (gun "cotton" or wood pulp)

Beijing plays a key role in supplying EU countries with the raw materials they need for their defense industries, even though China is also providing vital support to Vladimir Putin's war machine in Ukraine.
[...]

googlish: maaseuduntulevaisuus.fi | 40 000 truck cargo block went underground and disappeared - trade journal: the Suspicion of the cooked pulp and scorched heat (06.04.24)

While lead times and prices for some components have improved, Johansson told POLITICO that the European defense industry still faced "bottlenecks", especially on "powder and nitrocellulose to create powder".

"The risk of China sort of disconnecting the deliveries of nitrocellulose to do powder in Europe ... would be detrimental."

archive EP dual-use items, Dr. Adrian Zenz, December 2022 transition action plans, bottlenecks in Reactionary Visions and eNtiTiES

Kyiv School of Economics hosted a meeting with Daleep Singh, Deputy National Security Advisor, 11 Apr

On Wednesday, 10 April, Kyiv School of Economics hosted a meeting with Daleep Singh, United States Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics. In this capacity, he coordinates the administration's policymaking process for a range of issues at the intersection of economic policy and national security.
[...]

neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu | Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine meets in Kyiv, confirms unwavering support to Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction (11.04.24)
This ninth meeting, brought together Ukraine, the G7 countries as well as the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, as well as observers from Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Finland, and Switzerland. It was co-chaired by European Commission Director-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations Gert Jan Koopman, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko, and the US Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh...Since February 2024, it expanded to four additional members, namely the Republic of Korea, The Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Furthermore, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Belgium, and Finland, as well as Switzerland are observers. International Financial Institutions [IFIO] and Organisations, namely the European Investment Bank [EIB], the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD], the International Monetary Fund [IMF], the World Bank [WB], the Council of Europe Development Bank [CEDB], the International Finance Corporation [IFC] and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] also participate in the ["]platform["].

ua.usembassy.gov | Why We Can Still Imagine a Positive Vision for Ukraine's Future , 10 Apr

From Imagination to Realization

Let's talk about how we realize this future—specifically, how we catalyze a virtuous cycle of investment, innovation, growth, reform, democracy, and Western integration.

The first step is to UNLOCK THE VALUE of Russian sovereign assets frozen within our jurisdictions for the benefit of Ukraine. International law is clear on this point. Russia must pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine. And it is not for Russia to decide if or when that happens.

FT |  Examining the wrinkles of the Russian assets set-off plan (12.04.24)
As a matter of law, the legal gap between freezing and seizing assets is big enough to have stopped the Biden administration and the other G7 nations that hold frozen Russian assets from making that transfer. And in that legal logjam we have been stuck for the past two years....

Every G7 leader has agreed that Russian sovereign assets in our jurisdictions will remain immobilized until Russia pays for the damage its war has caused. We welcome the EU's recent decision to ensure that revenues from Russia's immobilized sovereign assets are used for Ukraine's benefit. We are working closely with our G7 partners to explore how we can maximize the impact of these revenues—both current and future—for the benefit of Ukraine today, not only for the direct financial benefit it would provide, but also for the signal it will send to Putin: we will not fatigue, and you will not outlast us.

...The answer, BDS [Lee Buchheit, Hugo Dixon, and Daleep Singh]  argue, lies in finding a technique that merges the right of set-off with Ukraine's legal claim [to reparations from] Russia. The BDS proposal is that the G7 nations make a joint loan to Ukraine for, say, $300bn—roughly the value of the frozen assets. Ukraine backs the borrowing by using its [claim] to reparations from Russia as collateral.

When Ukraine obtains a judgment against Russia, perhaps by a tribunal set up by the G7 and Ukraine, Russia won't pay (and will question the validity of the tribunal). A properly structured loan could relieve Ukraine from its debt [to the G7] by allowing it to assign its reparation [claime] to its [G7] creditors. At that point, the creditors, including the US, will possess both frozen ["immobilised"] Russian assets and a claim against Russia. Voila, set off....

Second, Ukraine and its public and private creditors must work together to agree on debt restructuring.

...The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act [FSIA] sets out the rules for protecting foreign states' property from judicial process. Foreign central bank deposits in US bank accounts enjoy protection: A court cannot touch that money as long as it belongs to the central bank and is used for normal banking purposes. There are, however, ways of moving money out of a bank account without going through the courts. Set-off allows a bank automatically to collect money that an account owner owes it. At least one US court has allowed a domestic bank to collect a debt owed to it by a foreign state by setting it off against money it held on behalf of that state's central bank....

[...]

< wipes tears >

ChatGPT | Londongrad forever? Why the UK may never seize Russian assets

[INCONTINENCE ALERT]

FT | Slash tax on profits from Russia's frozen assets, US urges allies, 20 Apr
"Maximise every euro from immobilised reserves to aid Ukraine, says Biden adviser Daleep Singh"

TRANSFORMATION OF THE DATA

BANGA! BANGA! Even after House acts, U.S. faces protracted battle over paying for Ukraine

[...]
At the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington this past week, U.S. officials pushed reluctant Europeans to use some of the $280 billion in Russian central bank reserves that the allies froze in the war's opening hours.

Schedule: Opening Press Conference speaker, Ajay Banga, Presiden, World Bank Group ...

[...]
At the IMF and World Bank meetings, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen met with her European counterparts in hopes of hammering out a compromise.
[...]
European finance ministers also fear that confiscating the Russian central bank assets could trigger a flight of global capital from the continent, according to Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University professor who served as chief of the financial studies division at the IMF.
[...]
Even if European reluctance can be overcome, the details of utilizing Russian funds are vexing. The Belgian prime minister [d/b/a D. Cameron d/b/a J. Borrell d/b/a Rasmussen & Yermak] last month floated the idea of raising money for Ukraine by issuing bonds that would pay investors interest with profits from the Russian assets.

archive "a transaction that is taxed at a rate of 25% in Belgium" (13.03.24)

The United States has pushed the idea of having the G-7 nations join to arrange a syndicated loan, which would be backed by Ukraine's reparation claims against Russia. Each proposal involves complex legal and financial questions.
[...]
"You should not take the passage of this bill as evidence that the U.S. obligations to Ukraine are over. Ukraine has no certainty even for 2025," said Hlib Vyshlinsky, executive director of the Center for Economic Strategy, a Ukrainian think tank. "It will need further support to prevail in this war."
[...]

Kyiv Security Compact (13.09.22): "A legal framework should be developed which will allow authorities to seize the property of the aggressor, its sovereign funds and reserves, and the assets of its citizens and entities on the sanctions list. The funds raised should be directed to repair the war damage inflicted on Ukraine. ...Provide financial aid and direct investments, including ...non-repayable grants...non-repayable financial assistance"

wsj | U.S. Takes Aim at Chinese Banks Aiding Russia War Effort, 23 Apr

The U.S. is drafting sanctions that threaten to cut some Chinese banks off from the global financial system, arming Washington's top envoy with diplomatic leverage [sic] that officials hope will stop Beijing's commercial support of Russia's military production, according to people familiar with the matter.

UNLOCK MUH "anti-coercion" RACKETEERING

But as Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Beijing on Tuesday, the question is whether even the threat of the U.S. using one of its most potent tools of financial coercion can put a dent in complex and burgeoning trade between Beijing and Moscow that has allowed the Kremlin to rebuild a military badly < wipes tears> mauled by more than two years of fighting in Ukraine.

archive Sun Tzu said: in Munich Security Conference 2023, another level of escaltion in Last Throes of European Economic Clout, A War of Lasting Attrition in Joe's Fuck the EU, Stoltenberg Talking Ammo in One Year In Review,
Ukraine's 'Invisible Crisis'

[...]
The West now worries Russia could win against Ukraine in a war of attrition, particularly if allies don't cannot mobilize their own industries to match Russian production.

archive EU raises bar for punishing countries

[...]
U.S. officials say targeting banks with sanctions is an escalatory option in case the diplomatic overtures fail to persuade Beijing to curb its exports. U.S. officials have ramped up pressure coercion on Beijing in recent weeks in private meetings and calls, warning that Washington is ready to take action against Chinese financial institutions handling trade in such dual-use goods.
[...]
"Payment chains are slowly being rebuilt," [Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center fellow Alexandra] Prokopenko said. "Both Russians and Chinese are constantly adapting to the new conditions."
[...]

archive messaging systems in Ruble and Yuan

Trade in some of the most critical dual-use goods for Russia's military surged after Xi's meeting with Putin in March last year, according to a recent analysis published [22.04.24] by the Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS], a Washington-based think tank.

Back in Stock? The State of Russia's Defense Industry after Two Years of the War (62 pp)
Part I: The State of Russian Weapons Systems in 2023
Part II: Russia's Evolving Import Diversification Efforts
Part III: Existing Russian Military Industrial Drawbacks
Part IV: Russia's Strategy in Ukraine in 2024
Conclusion and Recommendations
"A recent report by the Yermak-McFaul [!] International Working Group on Russian Sanctions outlines other measures feasible in the short term to reduce Russia's oil revenues, including strengthening enforcement, and implementing an initial downward ratchet in the price caps as well as completing the EU embargo [sic] on Russian hydrocarbons."

CSIS said the number of shipments of key dual-use goods, including helicopter parts, navigational equipment, and the machines used to craft precision parts for weapons and aircraft jumped from just a few thousand a month to nearly 30,000 a month.
[...]

archive January 2023 price cap mania never accepts failure

wsj | World War II history haunts attempts to seize "immobilized" Russian assets, 28 Apr blame Berlin

[...]
Within the G-7, a complicated compromise may be starting to emerge. The U.S. has proposed that the group front-load [sic] 10 years of profits—essentially interest payments on matured assets [sic]—from the frozen funds. That money would act as collateral for a bond issued by a special-purpose vehicle [encore!] set up by the G-7 to raise money for Ukraine. G-7 countries would guarantee [Ukraine'] debt [to G-7 "investors"].

< wipes tears >

Europeans have their own plan to use the interest [sic] generated by frozen Russian assets [sic] to pay for weapons and reconstruction for Ukraine. That is likely to go ahead soon, although EU officials say Europe could join the U.S. plan in 2025. Discussions are still at an early stage.
[...]
Initially, U.S. officials also worried that confiscating [sic] Russian assets could backfire against Washington and allies such as Israel [?!]. The U.S. has since argued that only directly affected countries, such as Ukraine's main backers [sic], whose security is threatened and who are paying for < wipes tears > some of Kyiv's defense, would be < wipes tears > entitled to confiscate ["seized"?] assets.

Bart Szewczyk [PhD], an associate [hahaha] at U.S. law firm Covington who previously advised the European Commission and worked at the ICJ, said that Berlin's concerns about setting a precedent for reparations cases were unwarranted. "The logic behind countermeasures [sic] clearly applies only to current and ongoing violations of international law, rather than those that occurred 80 years ago," he said.

alrighty then. Isn't about time to hint, if not disclose, Fortune 500 eNTiTiEs associated with equities, bonds, SPACs, and PIPES freezing in Russia's Euroclear accounts? Repatriation has a WARTIME ring to it.